Skypark wants rail link for Subang airport

SUBANG: Subang SkyPark Sdn Bhd, the manager of SkyPark Terminal (formerly Terminal 3) of the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang, and airlines operating there are having difficulty convincing train operators to extend their rail service Eo the airport .

The company has been talking to F.eretapi Tanah Melara Bhd (KTMB) and Performance Management and Delively Unit (Pemandu) for over a year now to provide train s errices to the airport, but nothing has been finalised.

It is understood that Syarikat Prasarana ICTegara Bhd had turned down an earlier request from Subang SkyPark to extend its light rail transit (LRT) system to Subang airport citing low traffic volume and high cost of construction. However, it was open to the idea of introducing shuttle bus services to ferry passengers to and from the Kelana Jaya LRT station and KL Sentral to SkyPark Terminal.

We have been in talks with KTMB and Pemandu to extend the KTM Komuter service to SkyPark Terminal. For example, you have the Express Rail Link to connect travellers from KL Sentral to the KT International Airport in Sepang,” Subang SkyPark executive director Tan Sri Ravindran Menon told SunBiz in an interview.

“We have spoken to Pemandu under the latter ‘s proposal to make Greater Kuala Lumpur better connected. If SulDang is not part of Greater KL, then what is Greater EL? And this is an airport you need to be connected,” he added.

He believes that an ideal solution is to link SkyPark Terminal with the KTM Komuter service, which is less costly to operate than the LRT and there is already a rail line that reaches up to the airport.

Currently, transportation to Skypark Terminal is limited to private vehicles and taxis.

Firefly managing director Datuk Eddy Leong had earlier told SurtBiz that he was supportive of a rail extension to SkyPark Terminal, as the low-cost carrier and Berjaya Aix currently operate out of the terminal. Subang is one of five main hubs

for Firefly in the country, flying to 12 destinations using its fleet of ATR 72-500s.

“What is an airport without connectivity? You cannot go on the basis that there is not enough passenger volume because the numbers are increasing each year as we take delivery of more air’ craft and mount more flights,” said Leong.

The carrier’s five-year expansion plan will see it growing its fleet to 20 ATR 72- 500s by 2015.